21. Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-One
H e was worried.
Tony had called in reinforcements. The festival was due to kick off at eleven the next morning, and he was down a person. Lily had called and explained the situation. She had no idea when she’d be back to help out.
And, actually, he was down two people with Aster in the hospital. He was concerned about her and the baby. He prayed they would be okay.
Worried he wouldn’t be able to pull this off on his own, he’d called in his sister and Neil to help oversee things. He’d put Charnese in charge of overseeing the vendor tents in Beachcomber Park. He’d put Neil in charge of inspecting the various stages around town.
He was staying at the community hall, overseeing the hanging of the art. To him, this was the most sensitive part of the work. He understood how much time and effort people had put into their artwork and how delicate it could be. He didn’t want anything to happen to it.
Oil paintings were grouped together. There weren’t that many. Acrylics were next. They appeared to encompass the majority of the entries. There were also pastels, black and white sketches, as well as mixed media.
In a lot of cases, he didn’t know which was which. Thankfully, it was all spelled out on the tags on the back of the art.
“It’s starting to take shape,” a female voice said from behind him.
He turned to find Birdie standing there, admiring the art. She wasn’t supposed to be in there. No one but the volunteers were supposed to view the entries until after the judging the next morning. But who was going to throw out Birdie? Certainly not him.
He turned to her. “It is. I think the festival is going to be a huge success.”
She had stepped closer to a painting of a kitten curled up and sleeping in the sunshine. As far as he was concerned, most of the entries were amazing. He didn’t envy the judges their task of trying to figure out which was the best.
“I can’t wait to see them all.” Birdie smiled broadly. “Aster had a really good idea for this festival. It might be our best event to date.”
He would like to think so. He followed the volunteers as they continued to hang the art. Birdie fell in step beside him.
He had the master list. Each entry had a number, and he was marking them off as they were hung. Sometimes, the hook had to be adjusted up or down, depending on the size of the piece.
As he continued to move, Birdie followed him. He cleared his throat. “Birdie, is there something you need?”
“Oh, yes.” She sent him a sheepish smile. “I just got distracted with all of this beautiful artwork. Anyway, I came to have a word with Lily. Is she around?”
“Actually, she had to step out. Is there something I can help you with?”
Birdie shook her head. “That’s okay. I’ll just wait for Lily.”
“That could be a problem. I don’t know when she’ll be back.”
“Oh.” Birdie’s brows rose high on her forehead.
He was surprised he knew something that hadn’t made it to the rumor mill. Still, he knew it wouldn’t be long until the whole town heard the latest news about Aster.
With that in mind, he said, “There was some sort of emergency, and she went to help Sam out with the kids.”
“Oh no! Is it Aster and the baby?”
He nodded. “I don’t know the details.”
“Excuse me, Mayor.” One of the volunteers held up a narrow but long painting.
It featured pink balloons being anchored by a picnic basket.
There was a line of ants trailing up the side of the basket and carrying away the food crumb by crumb.
Sometimes, he wondered where people came up with their ideas because he just wasn’t the least bit creative.
He was much more comfortable with spreadsheets and numbers.
He looked at the painting and then at the hook on the wall. “The hook will need to be raised as high as it will go.”
The young woman nodded. “Okay.”
He glanced down at the clipboard. The next piece of art was supposed to be Lily’s painting. A wave of guilt washed over him. His thoughts returned to the moment when he’d told her she wouldn’t be able to enter it in the exhibition. The memory of the pain in her eyes was like a gut punch.
“Tony, are you all right?” Birdie’s hand touched his arm.
When he glanced over at her, he saw the concern that shone in her eyes. He hadn’t meant to let his feelings slip. He swallowed. “Uh, yes, just a little worried about the time. This is taking longer than we anticipated. At this rate, we’ll be here until late in the evening.”
“I’d offer to help, but I’m afraid I would be more of a hindrance than a help. My body doesn’t work as well as it used to.”
“Mayor,” Theo said, “we have a problem with the next piece of art.”
He’d even closed down his office and had his staff working on the festival preparations.
Tony took a couple steps to see the portion of the wall where there was a problem.
No matter where they placed the hook, the painting of the balloons took up the majority of the wall.
The other painting that was supposed to share that wall wouldn’t fit.
But he quickly realized that wasn’t his biggest problem. Not even close. His attention zeroed in on a painting of seashells on the beach. He knew this painting very well.
And it wasn’t supposed to be here...
Lily had ignored everything he’d said to her about her not being eligible to enter the exhibition because she’d help organize it. Guilt for kicking her out of the competition clashed with anger that she’d ignored him and done exactly what she wanted.
Now he was left in the horrible position of choosing between following the rules or coloring outside the lines for the woman he was crazy for and was miserable without her in his life.
What was he supposed to do now?
“Lily?”
The voice reached out to her, drawing her from the land of dreams. But she wasn’t ready to get up. Not yet.
She was so tired. She just needed a little more shut eye.
“Lily?” This time there was a jostle of her shoulder.
And then it all came rushing back to her. The kids!
Her eyes opened. She sprang upright. Her heart was pounding. Was something wrong with the kids?
She looked around, but nothing she was seeing was registering with her brain just yet. She blinked a couple of times. When everything came into focus, she saw her friend Hannah kneeling next to the couch with a worried look on her face.
“Are the kids okay?” Lily asked.
“They are fine,” Hannah said. “They’re still sleeping. I didn’t know they ever slept this long.”
Lily yawned. “That was my fault. We were up a little late. And then George kept waking up. It was like he knew something was wrong.” She yawned again. And then she realized it was Friday. The first day of the festival. “You weren’t supposed to be back until Sunday.”
“As soon as I heard what was going on here, I headed back.” Hannah arched a brow. “What I want to know is why I didn’t hear about all of this from you?”
Lily stretched, trying to work out the kinks in her back from the lumpy couch. “I didn’t want to ruin your trip.”
“And so you decided to shoulder everything on your own?” Hannah sighed.
Just then they heard footsteps on the stairs. Nikki came rushing into the room. “Auntie Hannah!” She gave her a hug. When Nikki pulled away, she said, “Mom’s back in the hospital.”
While Hannah and Nikki talked, Lily walked into the kitchen to make some much-needed coffee. As she filled the reservoir with water, she yawned.
Just before Hannah woke her up, she’d been dreaming about Tony. She couldn’t remember what they’d been doing, but she woke up missing him.
Now that the stress of the festival was fading, she regretted taking her frustrations out on him. Maybe she’d jumped to the wrong conclusions about him.
He had messaged her numerous times throughout the evening not just to check on Aster, but to see if she needed anything. He’d even had pizza delivered—one pepperoni for Nikki and herself. There was also a small plain pizza for George. It was a very sweet gesture.
The only thing that could have made it better was if Tony had delivered them, but she understood he couldn’t get away from the festival preparations. In fact, she felt guilty that she wasn’t holding up her end of their partnership.
Once Lily left the Bell farm, she thought of stopping by the hospital, but Aster had complications with her surgery. So it had been a late night for them. She was probably sleeping. A visit should probably wait at least a day or two.
As Lily made her way into town, she had a thought. She should stop by the exhibition to see how her painting did in the contest. Except when she arrived at the community hall, the doors were locked, and there were no people around.
She checked the time and found it wasn’t even seven o’clock. It was only then that she realized the exhibit was closed to the public until the judging was complete later that afternoon.
She turned toward home. After being awoken many times during the night, she definitely needed some more caffeine. Or perhaps a short nap. Or perhaps both. Maybe not in that order.
When she reached her house, she made a beeline for her bedroom. She kicked off her shoes and then fell into her soft, cozy bed. Her eyes were closed before her head hit the pillow.